Wolverine director!

It looks like we might get our favorite adamantium-clawed mutant in theaters next year after all! The WOLVERINE solo movie now officially has a director, and it's... Gavin Hood?

Yep, the South African director of the acclaimed TSOTSI will delve into the labyrinthine past of Logan's time as a Weapon X experiment and his subsequent memory loss. As previously rumored, star Hugh Jackman will finish up work on Baz Luhrmann's AUSTRALIA by November and then immediately start slashing through David Benioff's script, which takes the character back to his early paramilitary days with X2 villain Stryker.

Certainly not someone you might expect a studio to slap into that role Ratner-style, but Hood's upcoming Jake Gyllenhaal/Reese Witherspoon espionage thriller RENDITION was apparently the convincer for Fox (who I bet will be at Comic Con after all in light of this announcement). And since Jackman is producing the movie as well, he likely had plenty to say on the subject of director (and the buzzed DJ Caruso and Len Wiseman obviously didn't meet his standards). Color me intrigued, true believers!